3:AM Magazine

The Story of the Pocho

By Christopher Rey Pérez.

Experience is baking powder and “la mano de Dios”

an array of Xul’s arcana floating around the moon “Muros y Escaleras”
1942 boats passing the Garganta do Diabo 2011 a pilgrim raising
his hands in invocation 1942 in the foreground someone reading
a book 2011 Asian families with digital cameras shouting I’m

in the way today

Tarobá and Naipí eternally falling forever a god
wanting to marry a beautiful woman back then but Naipí’s fleeing
in a canoe with her mortal lover today and the god’s getting angry
2011 in a rage forever leaving this square or staying on the wall
1942 slashing the river back then climbing the staircase 2011
maybe jumping today all sesos and drip

–

Nothing piola underneath the rejected Wonder of the World

except aged graffiti
YO ESTUVE AQUÍ
I wanted more
To take advantage of
bigger tenses
At every academia
I try it anew
Hola
me hubiera llamado
Cristóbal
Staircase wit after
each ciao
like at the big rodeo
in el Cholar
Claudio with the Guido
fade saying
culo would come
Che tocálo un pasito así
no más
Wearing four of
Kyle’s XXL
t-shirts and an asadero
on the back
Between the mountains
drunks see
Jesus
Our summer blows cold
Meloncito rots
the teeth and I’m no
good at
footworking
cuarteto
You don’t hold on
too hard
It’s six in the morning
The stable’s full of
pasture and preserve
in the eyes
Lint collecting
navel a fortune
cookie
Dramatic
yeast waiting
for the sun
The cops ask
where’s home
Is Obama really black

Charía interrupts with
news of his enemy’s
brother He asks about
Chos Malal

and liking on Facebook

The carrier
pigeons if
they are to return

ABOUT THE AUTHORChristopher Rey Pérez (Río Grande Valley, ’87) is an avid traveler and lover of dembow. His work appears in Catch Up’s Emerging Writers, The Scrambler, Sometimes-Always, and Bird Fly Good. He also edits the fledgling magazine, Dolce Stil Criollo. Currently, he lives in Tel Aviv, Israel and is a Visiting Lecturer at Al Quds-Bard Honors College in East Jerusalem.